After Ever After
by ComingAndGoingByBubble
Summary: Glinda's now in an asylum, Elphaba's alive after all and in hiding, and Chuffrey is determined to erase Elphaba from Glinda's mind permanently. But when the blonde escapes, Chuffrey knows the only person responsible is Elphaba. Finding and capturing them will cause more chaos in the land of Oz than ever before and Oz will never be safe again. Sequel to So Close And Still So Far.
1. Chapter 1

After Ever After

Chapter One:

"What do you want to do with her?"

Chuffrey stared at the woman he called his wife as the doctor repeated his question for the second time.

His thoughts drifted to the numerous times he had witnessed his wife and that green freak of a woman together in compromising positions and it had been more than once. Now that he and he alone, not counting Glinda, knew that the Wicked Witch was still alive he had to think about the reaction his decision would cause him to get from the witch.

"The operation would be tricky and would not come without dangerous risks if something should go wrong but-"

Pulled out of his thoughts, Chuffrey looked at the doctor and finished his sentence, "You believe it's for the best."

The doctor looked hesitant about answering that.

"Well, sir she's been here for ten years now and hasn't changed at all. Her behavior is still the same and she is refusing to face the truth," he finally said after a brief moment to gather his thoughts.

"But will she? Afterwards will she accept the truth?" persisted Chuffrey and his eyes were averted away from Glinda to the doctor.

"There's no way to tell for sure but-" the man with the doctorate stopped short when he heard a low disappointing growl escape Chuffrey's lips.

"You can't force her to forget what she believes now?" asked Chuffrey.

"We have no idea what part of her brain is holding onto the belief that her friend is still alive, so no I'm afraid to say that's a long shot," the doctor explained as he went through his notes on the patient and her psychological history while she had been at Southstairs Asylum.

"But if we do operate on her, there's a good chance that she can forget all of this and start over," the doctor continued with a reassuring smile towards the highly regarded man who had put his own wife in a mad house.

Chuffrey merely looked at Glinda again who was on the other side of the glass window that he was looking into and sitting on top of the table as doctors asked her numerous questions.

She was too pale, too far crazy, and too unstable for him to handle anymore. He never knew if she was going to snap or ramble on about Elphaba at any given moment. To tell the truth, Chuffrey was figuring out that she was becoming quite dangerous. What if one of the nurses actually believed her story and investigated into who she was. Chuffrey had made sure that Glinda's primary doctor and nurse had been paid off generously to keep their silence but what if Glinda slipped up to a nurse that wasn't her primary nurse or another doctor and forget that her alias name was Galinda Lou Freebush? Chuffrey's actions would be exposed if they found out that she was Glinda the Good and that she was supposed to be dead.

On the other hand, Chuffrey didn't just want to get rid of her. She was too valuable for him to dispose of just yet. He needed her for a purpose that had not yet been even recognized by Chuffrey himself yet but all he knew was that killing off Glinda was a bad idea.

"Could it kill her?" asked Chuffrey as his eyes connected with the blonde's and she merely looked the other way the second she realized it and played with her hair as the doctors asked her more and more questions from the room she was in.

"Every procedure has that risk, Sir Chuffrey but I've had highly successful surgeries when I've done this before and the risk of dying is minimum but-"

"But what?" snapped Chuffrey. He was in no mood for games or secrets.

"But the risk of brain damage and other afflictions like that are possible…" the doctor seemed to be forcing the words out of his mouth, obviously he hadn't wanted to tell Chuffrey of this.

The older man took one last look at his supposedly 'dead' wife and suddenly thought on Elphaba's words that she had left him with a week ago. This wasn't over and it was never going to be unless action was taken. Right now Chuffrey was presented with a plan to end this relationship between Glinda and the repulsive green witch and he would be a fool not to take it.

"Well I guess we'll have to find out if that happens," said Chuffrey coldly as he pulled out a pen to sign the papers to allow the lobotomy to happen.

"Yes," said the doctor suddenly thinking that this might not be the best idea, suddenly sounded hesitant, "I guess we will."

Chuffrey glanced at Glinda who was now coming out of the room, after being rammed with question after question about her well being and a small crude smile spread over his face. He wasn't thinking of the extreme pain he was now going to put Glinda in, the fact that she was probably going to have to be restrained and awake while they operated on her, or the sick realization that they were going to try and remove parts of her brain with an ice pick all for the slight chance that they might be able to permanently force her to forget about Elphaba forever.

No, Chuffrey was only thinking the imaginary future he had created in his mind. One where Glinda would never speak/ think or remember Elphaba ever again, a future where Elphaba was gone forever and he had Glinda all to himself.

In Chuffrey's mind he was just one step closer into making that future a very real and very cruel reality…

**Hey! Long time no see right? So as you all know this is the sequel to So Close And Still So Far! I hope you all liked it! Also just so everyone knows what lobotomy is I'm going to explain it without being too graphic. Lobotomy is a surgical procedure in which they basically pick at the brain's nerves with ice picks/other tools to try and rid a person of obsessions/delusions and other sorts of conditions that they could consider to be mentally insane. It was banned in the 1930s I believe. If you want to read more up on it just look on Google. But basically doctors thought that it would get rid of a mentally insane person's problems by taking away the part of the brain that they thought held the problem. But most of them were not successful and left patients paralyzed or brain dead, or even worse dead. **

**Sorry for the really long author's note but I felt like I had to explain that... **

**Stay tuned for more! :)**

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	2. Close To The Truth

Chapter Two:

Various patients of the Southstairs Asylum were sitting in a circle that was surrounded by nurses and doctors who were all observing them as they sat in their weekly discussion group.

"Now is there anything else that anyone would like to talk about?" asked Allaska who was deemed the head nurse for this particular discussion group. She looked around at the sea of patient's faces for a volunteer, "Anyone?"

Her eyes landed on Glinda who sat on her chair twisting fistfuls of her own uniform in her hands deep in thought.

"What about you, Galinda? Is there anything that you would like to share with the group?" Allaska knew what kind of water she was dangerously treading on by asking such a question but it had already been said and done.

"Yes," said the blonde faintly as she crossed one dainty leg over the other, "I would like to talk about… Elphaba Thropp."

No sooner afterwards did she say that there was a chorus of shrieks heard from the other patients.

"Not again!" cried one.

"Every week!" complained another.

The once weekly quiet discussion group was immediately turned into a shrieking animalistic frenzy with the other nurses trying to calm down the patients like they had to do every week whenever Glinda brought up the subject of Elphaba Thropp.

Allaska tried hard not to glare at the blonde woman for causing distress and weekly irritation among the other patients as she walked over to her, grabbed her by the arm, and dragged her back into her room.

Once the door was shut, Allaska turned to the woman who was sitting on the cot absentmindedly playing with her hair.

"Ten years, Glinda!" she exclaimed finally at her breaking point, "Ten years and all you do is talk about this Elphaba Thropp person!"

Allaska sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers in irritation.

"Elphaba this and Elphaba that, Elphie is still alive, and Elphaba comes to visit me at night! Do you hear how ridiculous you sound?" yelled Allaska. The nurse had never yelled at a patient before like this. She had always tried to sympathize with them and try to understand where the root of their mental instability was but with Glinda that seemed nearly impossible.

"Do you have any idea what they're planning to do with you if you don't change? If you don't see that this person you keep talking about is probably dead then do you know what your husband is allowing us to do to you?"

Allaska was actually near tears when she said this. In all her years working at Southstairs Asylum she had always managed to cure and treat a patient without having to perform a lobotomy. She had always managed to help them without having their brains picked out. But now it seemed like she couldn't even help or later save Glinda.

In the silence that filled the room now the nurse looked at her patient. She had known exactly who the woman really was upon first seeing her when she arrived at the asylum. She had always looked up to Glinda the Good ever since she had rose up in the social world. She had seemed at first like a blonde airhead to the rest of Oz but Allaska had always seen the intellect that Glinda possessed and rarely ever used. Then when she had heard about her death shortly after the Wicked Witch Of The West's death she felt horribly sad for the woman's short life. So it was a big surprise for Allaska when Glinda had turned up at the asylum and that Allaska was her primary nurse.

But now as Allaska stared at the face of the once adored public figure she realized that the woman that she looked up to was gone. Glinda the Good was no longer here; she was simply Glinda now if even that. To Allaska she looked a distraught, helpless woman who was lost and who had been seriously disturbed by whatever had happened to her in her life.

"If… if you just admit it," pleaded Allaska to Glinda softly, "Admit it that Elphaba is dead then you'll be able to get out of here alive and be safe."

"No," said Glinda firmly, "I won't do it. It's not true, I won't say it!"

Only the blonde herself knew what horrors awaited her if she ever did return home with Chuffrey. She knew that he would lock her up in that big house of his and make her 'his' again for all eternity. At least while Glinda was in here she was safe from the sexual and mental attacks Chuffrey always gave her.

"I cannot tell a lie. I cannot tell everyone that she's dead when I know it's not true!" said Glinda softly as she lowered her head and blonde curls covered her face.

Allaska was furious and frustrated with the blonde woman. She stood up straight with her hands on her hips and thought for a moment about what to do.

"What if they found her body and showed it to you, would you believe that she's dead then?" suggested Allaska after much thought.

"They won't find a body even if they went looking for one," said Glinda with a small smile, "because she's still alive."

The nurse in the room repressed a grimace as she tried to think of a new plan.

"How did she die?" asked Allaska. Even though she had read the files on Glinda or "Galinda" as she was known around the asylum as, Allaska had come to realize that no one had ever asked the woman how her friend had died for reasons that they probably figured that it was pointless in asking.

"What?" asked Glinda as her face suddenly paled.

"How did your friend Elphaba die?"

"I already told you she didn't!" shot back Glinda defensively though Allaska could tell that the woman was shaken by the question.

Allaska felt slightly bad for rattling the woman but she felt like this was the key into curing Glinda so she was determined to keep asking until she got an answer.

"Glinda I need you to tell me how Elphaba died, whether she is dead now or not. I need you to tell me exactly why everyone besides you thinks she's dead. What happened to her?" pressed Allaska as she stared straight into Glinda's ashen face.

The blonde was paler than the nurse had ever seen her and her hands twitched in her lap like she was having a nervous fit of some sorts. It was as if all the unseen memories of her past were coming back to her mind with that one single question.

"I-I don't remember…" stuttered the blonde, her voice quivering as she fought back the horrid memories of that night that she was trying to hard to forget in her mind.

"You don't remember or you don't want to remember?" pressed Allaska.

It was now more of an interrogation than a helpful discussion but Allaska didn't care. She was so close on getting to the truth, to the root of Glinda's problem that she didn't want to stop until she had the answer.

"I don't want to remember," muttered the woman almost mutely as she stared away from Allaska's gaze.

"Why?" the word resonated off the padded walls of the room and echoed in both women's ears until it became a ringing sound and nothing more.

"Because it was all my fault and because I was there and I didn't try and stop it!" suddenly the mentally insane patient broke and spilled out her secret.

Allaska was on a roll and wasn't about to stop there.

"Glinda, you still haven't told me how she died…" she prompted for the blonde woman to finish.

"She melted, the skin was melting off of her face while I was hiding in the closet and I couldn't save her from the water!" suddenly cried out Glinda with tears now streaming down her face as she told the secret, "She told me long ago that she was allergic to water but- but I never thought that it would kill her! And it's all because I gave those stupid shoes to that bratty little girl and then she-"

"And then she what?" asked Allaska as she waited for the woman to finish.

But Glinda kept her lips shut tight after that and with tears in her eyes she turned away from the nurse and curled her legs closer to her chest as she lay down on the cot.

"None of that matters anymore though because she's not dead, and nothing you say will ever try to convince me otherwise because I know the truth," mumbled Glinda softly after a few tense moments of silence.

With one last stern look casted towards the blonde woman Allaska left the room without another word and decided that if she really wanted to help Glinda before her brains got picked out by these doctors she was going to have to do some investigating herself.

Though Allaska only knew of one killing in Oz that had been committed because of water and that was the death of the Wicked Witch of The West. It was impossible but Allaska couldn't help but wonder if this Elphaba Thropp character that Glinda was always going on about was actually The Wicked Witch of The West.

It was a hunch but a place to start no less.

**The beginning scene is a playoff of one of the scenes in the movie, Death Becomes Her with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn. It's one of my favorite movies and that scene always makes me laugh. Anyways hoped you liked this chapter and sorry it took so long to upload!**

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	3. Promises I Give To You

Chapter Three:

"Elphie they're planning on doing something to me," said Glinda quietly to the woman next to her who had come into her room shortly after Allaska had left.

Elphaba's brow creased as she looked down at the head full of blonde hair that was leaning against her chest.

"What do you mean by that, Glin?" asked Elphaba.

A long sigh escaped Glinda's lips. She curled in closer towards Elphaba's warm body for protection from whatever they were planning on doing to her.

"I don't know exactly what it means but my nurse let it slip that they're planning to do something to me if I don't admit that you're dead," the blonde woman felt a pinch of fear start up inside of her but she was determined not to let it show to Elphaba.

Elphaba tensed up immediately as she thought of the possibilities of what they could do to her poor lover.

"I knew this was wrong to keep you in here for this long. I should have gotten you out of here when I had the chance," mumbled Elphaba bitterly as she thought of her last encounter here with Chuffrey that had angered her so much that she had been briefly thinking about whisking Glinda far away from this place.

"No, I'd rather be in here than out in the real world," protested Glinda as she shifted out of Elphaba's embrace to look at her, "If I were to leave this place, Chuffrey would surely send out the entire Gale Force out for my return and it would be utter chaos."

Elphaba smiled lightly, "Exactly, and if he did that then he would have to tell all of Oz that he lied about you being dead. There is no way he could search for you without it causing any attention and without Oz finding out that you never died."

Glinda knew that she was right, but there was something inside of her that now and forever feared the real world. She would have been happier to stay locked inside her own mind and her imagination, where Elphaba and herself were always together.

"Well I don't want to leave this place," argued the blonde as she looked down at her uniform and legs.

Elphaba's gaze traveled to her face and the heat of it made Glinda uncomfortable.

"Are you afraid?" asked Elphaba curiously seeing as the blonde woman had gone silent.

"No," said Glinda after a moment, "I think I detached myself from all of my emotions when I got here, except for my love for you. I don't feel anything anymore except for the love and adoration of you. No happiness, fear, anger, sadness, or any other feeling fills my body anymore Elphie. It's like I'm void of all emotion unless it pertains to you."

"What about when you think of Chuffrey?"

That made Glinda tense up, but as to the reason why she did not know.

" I feel nothing, but an intense coldness that fills my body when I look at him."

"Anger?" guessed Elphaba.

The blonde shook her head, "No, just coldness. It's almost like anger but not quite."

"Are you sure this place just isn't going to your head, my sweet? You can't just stop having emotions…" Elphaba meant the remark as somewhat of a joke but it didn't come across that way.

"I assure you that I can and this place isn't the problem… it's what happened before I got here that messed me up," tears nearly started to fall down the blonde's face but she kept them brimming in her eyes.

Elphaba stared at Glinda only wishing that she could understand and know half the pain and suffering that the blonde had gone through. She herself had gone through rough and tough times and Glinda knew about those but Elphaba did not know much about Glinda's personal life, especially the one she had with Chuffrey. That information had remained behind closed doors and the blonde rarely spoke of it, though Elphaba knew some of the torment she had been through.

All Elphaba needed to know and this she did know was that Chuffrey was more than a wickedly cruel husband to Glinda and she needed to be as far away from him as possible in order to retain what was left of her sanity.

Elphaba suddenly saw why the blonde wanted to stay in here. She wanted to isolate herself from Chuffrey in this mad house.

"Glin… you can't stay here," whispered Elphaba.

Those lovely blue eyes that had gazed at her so many times glinted with a hint of something that Elphaba could not figure out.

"Of course I can, Elphie," she said cheerily, "I can stay here as long as I like."

But Elphaba denied that statement in her mind quickly. She could see what this place was doing to Glinda. It was causing her to revert back to her old self, the youthful silly Galinda and it was going to kill her if she didn't get away soon.

"Not if they're going to hurt you, you're not," argued Elphaba as she placed a hand on Glinda's pale face.

The glint that was shimmering in Glinda's eyes dimmed and it seemed as if the blonde had returned to her normal self again.

"I guess you're right," she admitted softly as her fingers danced upwards on Elphaba's arm. Without warning the blonde leaned in close for a kiss and felt a surge of love swell up inside of her as the space between her lips and Elphaba's was diminished.

"Oh, Elphie what would I do without you?" she muttered as she pulled away for air and then leaned back in for another long kiss.

"I think the question is what would I do without you?" Elphaba smiled in the midst of the kiss and that grin on her face brought a small smirk to Glinda's.

"I believe the conclusion we can both come to is that neither of us can live without the other," said Glinda nostalgically.

"You won't let anything happen to me, will you Elphie?" Glinda asked a while later after the passionate kisses and touches had been exchanged. It had to be about rounds time so Elphaba didn't have much longer to stay.

"Of course not," promised Elphaba with a kiss on Glinda's nose.

"Rounds will be here soon," said Glinda emotionlessly, "You should go," the blonde said soon afterwards.

"You're always telling me to go," said Elphaba and her lips curled into a smile, "What do you think would happen if I stayed, hm? Do you think they'd run away screaming, try and kill me… oh or they could-"

"Let's not find out," snapped Glinda promptly, if only to shut the green woman up.

"This place is turning you into a monster, my sweet," observed Elphaba and her words were said softly as she grabbed her broom, "I promise I'll get you out of here soon."

Glinda looked back at her as she climbed to the open window.

"You better hurry darling, before I lose my sanity completely," said the blonde softly, her words carrying away into the air.

Elphaba turned, and could only stare at her. How strange it was to speak to Glinda like this, distantly, with hardly any emotion in her voice. It was like speaking to the dead, everything was morbid and never filled with happiness. Southstairs Asylum was all its reputation said it was to be. It was a place where they sucked out souls, emotions, and the inhabitants' ability to stay sane.

"I promise I will," swore Elphaba as she took off into the distant night, her cape flying out behind her.

**Sorry about not updating this for a while. My so called life got in the way, but I'm back! :) Yay!**

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	4. A Fate Sealed

Chapter Four:

Elphaba needed time, time to think and figure out a way to get Glinda out of there without causing a complete uproar.

As she flew high above the land of Oz her thoughts were occupied with plans as to how to get Glinda out of Southstairs Asylum before they did something drastic to her. Up until now her treatment had been fairly common. Months upon months of therapy, coping mechanisms mixed with the occasional dose of reality. Elphaba had a bad feeling that whatever they were planning to do to Glinda was permanent this time, something that was irreversible. And Elphaba wouldn't and couldn't let anything like that happen to the blonde.

She was a witch, and a very powerful one at that, but could she really manage to pull off getting Glinda out of the asylum without anyone noticing? The Grimmerie, which she had spent hours upon hours scouring over, was useless. Elphaba's eyes had gotten bad over the years and she found that even she, the reader that had found it the easiest to read the book, was having trouble finding spells she wanted.

"I should have just told her," whispered Elphaba as she lowered the broom to the ground, having reached her destination, "I shouldn't have let her believe that I was dead."

Elphaba was full of; I should have, what if, and if I had today. It was a day of regret seeing as what her 'death' had done to Glinda. Elphaba couldn't believe that she had let this get this far.

She should have just taken Glinda away from Chuffrey immediately after her death and then they could have been fugitives together. But it had been Elphaba's protectiveness and the fact that she believed wholeheartedly that Glinda did not deserve to live a life on the run that made her stay back and let the events unfold right before her eyes.

Elphaba had watched Glinda literally lose her mind, all the while hoping that maybe if she knew the truth that that would calm her and return her back into her old self. But it had just strengthened everyone else's beliefs that Glinda was insane. She talked about nothing except for Elphaba to Chuffrey, nurses, doctors, to anyone that would listen. It was starting to frighten Elphaba because what if one of them actually believed her, believed that Elphaba was alive and they put together the pieces to figure out that this Elphaba person was the notorious Wicked Witch of the West?

Elphaba mounted off of her rickety old broom and took a few steps forward on the ground, looking up at the place that she had called home for ten years now. It was an abandoned old barn hidden in the midst of the Vinkun forest, it had once been a hideout for the Gale Force, and it couldn't have been more dilapidated. But it was perfect for Elphaba's new fugitive lifestyle.

Opening the door and shutting it promptly after she entered the one roomed barn with the wooden panels of each sectioning off each 'stall' as it had been when it was a in-use barn.

An eerily stillness flowed throughout the falling apart structure as Elphaba threw her broomstick on the hay in one of the numerous stalls and she collapsed into a bundle of soft hay, covering herself with a flimsy blanket and The Grimmerie by her side.

While she closed her eyes, Elphaba's thoughts were in a flurry. Could she really subject Glinda to a life like this? Always running, always thinking that the person next to you was someone who could turn you in, knives at the ready and your heart trusting no one?

Elphaba knew that the old Glinda might have been able to handle this type of life… but this new one, this frazzled out of sorts one definitely could not. Glinda now needed, no, depended upon Elphaba and the green woman could just not submit to her every want and need.

Glinda needed to be self-sufficient if she wanted to live out here with Elphaba and Glinda, the woman she had been so fond of, had withered away into this fragile girl.

It was almost if as Glinda had retreated back into her younger self, Galinda Upland. She was acting more and more like a girl, a young immature girl at that who constantly needed watching and hovering. And Elphaba was too old to do that sort of thing.

What Elphaba needed was the woman that Glinda had once been, the woman that had so bravely gone through torment and pain and had still come out of it seemingly unscathed. But Elphaba realized as she dosed off, that that woman didn't exist anymore and Elphaba wasn't even sure if she had existed at all.

Glinda sat there quietly while she heard relentless screaming from the room next door. It made her on edge, the screaming, she had always hated the sounds of the poor souls that were damned to a hellish fate.

She caught a few words out of the high-pitched shrieking that had been echoing from the room all day. One of the patients, Glinda guessed at this, was probably being told something that they didn't want to hear and they had spun out of control in a screaming fit.

Smashing mixed with the screaming coming from the room and Glinda flinched every time she heard something being broken. It sounded maybe like the silver tray had been smashed, along with the needles and maybe even a few bottles of medicine.

The blonde sat quietly on her bed, literally twiddling her thumbs, and stared off into the distance, which for her was the wall.

She wished that Elphie were here to comfort her, to wrap her in her arms and whisper soft, soothing words into her ears. But Elphaba had gone and wouldn't be back until tomorrow most likely so the probability of that happening was slim to none.

The screaming quieted for a bit and then started up again. Glinda caught the words and phrases of: won't, terminated, do this to me, kill, don't.

Clawing or something of the sort was heard next as the poor soul was probably being dragged out of the room. Glinda had known little to nothing about her neighbor, except for the fact that her name was Chora or something like that and that she had been diagnosed as a murderer but Glinda didn't believe it for a second. It was rumored by many of the inhabitants of Southstairs Asylum that Chora had murdered both her children by drowning them in a lake just outside of Munchkinland and then had tried to kill herself.

Glinda had taken one look at Chora and she knew right then and there that she was innocent.

Now, Chora was desperately clawing, trying to grab hold of something just so that the guards and nurses couldn't take her away.

"I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO IT! PLEASE DON'T PICK OUT MY BRAIN, PLEASE DON'T LOBOTOMIZE ME!" her screeching vibrated throughout what seemed like the entire asylum and out into the world.

"Don't take me away!" she screamed as the guards and nurses tried to hold her down so they could get a needle in her skin to immobilize her and shut her up.

It was then that through the tiny little window on her door that Glinda could see what was going on. Chora was screaming on the ground while nurses and guards alike were desperately trying to shove a needle into her arm.

"All of you leave, leave while you still can before these monsters try and take what's most important to you!" Chora's words died out in a fading whisper as one nurse had finally injected her and she had gotten still on the ground. The guards then picked her weak body up and carried it down the long hallway to the operating room though everyone in here called it the death room. If you were taken there you were a dead person without a doubt.

Glinda shuddered as she watched the guards carry Chora with the nurses and doctors right behind them, concealing their tools beneath white cloths. It was a petrifying sight to have watched and it chilled Glinda to the bone.

She took several steps back from the door, numb with shock and her head buzzed with the things that Chora had said.

It was then that Glinda noticed her chart hanging on the door by a little nail in the exterior. Allaska must have forgotten it when she left the room. Glinda's eyes scanned through it once more, though she rarely did this seeing as it had never changed since her arrival here.

But today, Glinda realized something new on the chart. One word scribbled hastily on the bottom and circled a million times in red ink. One word that sent chills down her body and made her breath hitch. A single word that would seal her fate forever.

Lobotomy.

**Dun, dun, dun.**


	5. Collapsed

Chapter Five:

Glinda remained frozen on the bed, in the sitting position that Allaska had to literally force her into, for the rest of the night and most of the next day. She sat there with her face stuck in an expression of utter horror as she breathed in hysterical gasps. Allaska, no matter how hard she tried, could not snap the blonde woman out of it. She tried everything from snapping her fingers in front of her face to making loud noises but nothing worked.

The blonde seemed to be stuck in some psychotic breakdown of some sorts but as to the cause of it, Allaska was unsure. When she had arrived at Glinda's room for rounds that evening, after the fiasco with Chora had been over and dealt with, she had gone around to check up on everyone. And she had found Glinda frozen in a standing position next to the door in hysterics. She gasped and tears streamed down her face but she would not utter a word as to what had caused her hysteria.

Allaska could only guess that the poor woman had finally lost it.

The nurse sighed as she realized that probably nothing was going to snap the blonde out of this horrific state of mind she was in. She figured that once Glinda's primary doctor saw her like this that the date of her lobotomy would be moved up immediately.

Allaska looked back at the chart that was hanging on the wall and squinted to read the date that her doctor had scribbled next to the word Lobotomy that had been circled many times.

She had to leave Glinda's side and traveled over to where it was hanging to read it. It said June 2nd, which was in about five days. That's all the blonde woman had left. Five days.

It was a frightening prospect to think that in a few days the blonde patient could be left completely paralyzed, incompetent, or dead. Allaska shuddered just at the mere thought of it. She didn't want to see Glinda The Good dead.

As she moved back to where the blonde woman sat in hysterics, Allaska's mind wandered to the research that she had done over the past few nights about this Elphaba person that Glinda kept talking about. Her hunch had been right, or at least all evidence pointed to Allaska being right. She had done extensive research at the Three Queens Library near Shiz and had come to discover that in the same year, as Glinda there had been an Elphaba Thropp, a girl with green skin. Mysteriously though, sometime in their sophomore year she vanished. Glinda had already dropped out and had married Sir Chuffrey by then so she didn't know anything about what happened to Elphaba except for what the letter written to her by Elphaba's sister Nessarose. Allaska had also discovered, since everyone in Oz thought Glinda was dead the secret archives of her personal memorabilia had been scattered across Oz, that Elphaba and Glinda had been lovers. Allaska wasn't so sure of this since that piece of information had been blown into her research by word of mouth and rumor all because of a certain number of letters someone found from Glinda to Elphaba and vice versa, which were probably fakes. But what Allaska did know was that this Elphaba Thropp was the sister of Nessarose Thropp who had become the Wicked Witch Of The East. So naturally, Allaska put the pieces together and figured out that Elphaba must have been the Wicked Witch Of The West.

Allaska had pondered over why more people hadn't come to this conclusion when she realized that probably a lot of people hadn't known the Wicked Witch of The West's real name. It seemed like the woman hadn't had many friends in college. From what pictures she had found, Allaska counted only seven people who had been associated not necessarily friends with the odd green woman. She had come to find out their names too.

Galinda Upland, Fiyero Tiggular, Boq (she couldn't find his last name), Nessarose Thropp, Avaric Tenmeadows, Crope (last name not found), and Tibbet (last name not found).

Glinda was here at Southstairs Asylum. Boq had mysteriously vanished after one incident after working for Nessarose. Nessarose was dead, squashed by Dorothy's house. Fiyero had been murdered, by whom the details were still fuzzy. Avaric was a ranging drunk so he was no help. And lastly Crope and Tibbet seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth.

So there was no one left that had known Elphaba personally except for Glinda. Elphaba's parents, Melena and Frex were dead as well. Her brother Shell had disappeared and has not been heard from since. Even Elphaba's teachers were dead; Madame Morrible and Doctor Dillamond were both gone.

It was as if the land of Oz was unconsciously trying to eradicate every memory of the Wicked Witch, the people she had known, and the life she had formerly lived off the map.

Allaska's thoughts were disrupted when she regained the sound of Glinda's sporadic, heavy breathing; which she had previously tuned out.

"Glinda," she said softly as she tried once more to snap the blonde out of her state by waving a delicate hand next to her face.

But, as Allaska feared and guessed, her voice was not the voice that Glinda wanted and needed to hear right now.

Biting her lip Allaska pondered over the choice of staying and waiting to see if Elphaba actually did show up or leaving. In the end, she chose to leave and then come back but not for a few hours seeing that she did have other patients to attend to.

"I'll be back in a few hours," she told the blonde woman who didn't even react to her words. Allaska wondered if she should sedate her or something but she figured that she should probably let the breakdown run its course or otherwise stopping it could create even worse, dangerous outcomes.

And so Allaska left, with every intention of coming back and seeing for herself if what Glinda was saying was true. She wanted to see if Elphaba, The Wicked Witch Of The West was really alive.

* * *

Elphaba ventured out of her hidden housing spot and flew high above the black sky that night towards Southstairs Asylum a few miles and hours away. As soon as she came close towards the mental institution, Elphaba tried the invisible spell that she had been practicing for weeks now that she had not previously used (in early visits Elphaba had charmed black smoke to appear all around the asylum just so she could climb into Glinda's window). It was successful but only for a few minutes which was just enough time for Elphaba. She slipped past the guards who had been holding the doors open for an incoming batch of new patients, made her way through the corridors that she now knew like the back of her hand, and came to Glinda's room. Previously Elphaba had always come through the window but today Elphaba was being risky (as to the reason though she had no idea). Her heart filled with adrenaline as she slowly materialized and could be seen. A few quick checks down the corridor to see if no one was coming her way, Elphaba opened the latch to the door; it was never locked on the outside, and stepped inside.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she shut the door and smiled to herself. She was beyond proud of her latest achievements. Now that Elphaba knew she could get inside, her plan that she had formed while dreaming to get Glinda out of here felt a lot more secure now that she had proven that she could slip into the asylum.

But that feeling of security fled her body as soon as she laid eyes on Glinda. The blonde woman who had captured her heart, who was so dear to her looked as if she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Glin…" said Elphaba hesitantly as she took in Glinda's behavior and appearance. She was rocking slowly back and forth on the bed, the hinges of it creaking under her weight. Her hands were fidgety at her lap and Elphaba could have sworn that the blonde had wrung them around themselves until her hands were bleeding. Her eyes were unfocused, staring straight ahead at what appeared to be nothing. Her lips moved and quivered as she took in heavy uneven breaths. Tears also ran down her face.

"Glin… what's wrong?" Elphaba spoke softly and tenderly.

She didn't answer. The silence that filled the air was starting to freak the green woman out. Why wouldn't Glinda speak?

Elphaba moved slowly, as if one step out of place could send Glinda off, her broom was set down onto the floor gently as Elphaba moved towards Glinda.

She put both of her hands on the blonde's face, trying to shake it out of her. But it was to no avail. The blonde did not react.

"Glinda, please," Elphaba was starting to really worry now, "What is it?"

Her blue eyes finally focused and she blinked a few times and moved her head a bit. She finally looked up at Elphaba like she had just noticed her presence.

Once again those eyes filled up with tears and Glinda flung herself at Elphaba, collapsing to the ground and sobbing at her feet.

"Elphie, please don't let them hurt me!" she shrieked in hysterics as she latched her frail arms around Elphaba's knees, "I'll do anything, Elphie just don't let them take me to the death room!"

Elphaba was shocked, horrified and confused all at the same time. She had no idea what Glinda was talking about specifically but she had a suspicion that it had something to do with what the doctors were planning to do with her.

"You're not going anywhere, Glin," forced out Elphaba as she attempted to pry the blonde woman off of her but Glinda would not let go of her death grip. Elphaba felt like her knees were going to snap, Glinda was holding onto them so tightly.

"They're going to kill me, Elphie," whimpered out the blonde as hysteria finally took over and she uncontrollably started to sob and elicit silent screams.

The green woman tried to hoist up the blonde to her feet but Glinda stayed on the floor as if she was being kept down there by an intense pull of gravity.

"Glinda, you're going to be fine," but Elphaba didn't know that. She was more focused on trying to calm the blonde woman down, "No one is going to kill you."

"They're… loboto-… me," came Glinda's muffled response. Elphaba had heard the middle word clearly despite the sniffling and crying that had came with it but surely that couldn't have been what Glinda had meant.

"Glin… can you repeat that?" she asked gently as her hands stroked through blonde hair, "I didn't quite hear you."

She could feel every tremor that the blonde had shuddering through her thin body and she felt Glinda shake before she responded again.

"THEY'RE GOING TO LOBOTOMIZE ME!" she screamed shrilly and once again fell into hysteric crying.

"They wouldn't do that," said Elphaba hollowly though she knew that there was a possibility that they would, "Not to you, my sweet. You're not going to be lobotomized, I promise."

"It's on my chart," whispered Glinda after a moment of silence.

Elphaba whirled around in a spinning motion of skirts and yanked herself away from Glinda for a moment to bolt over to her chart.

Elphaba knew her eyes were going, but the word was there clear as day.

Lobotomy.

Elphaba's breathed still as her brain processed that information. She was as sure as anything that Chuffrey had something to do with this, some plan to get herself out of the blonde's thoughts so that he could have her all to himself.

She looked back at Glinda who had collapsed to the tile floor, sobbing her heart out the death sentence.

"Glinda…" Elphaba found that she couldn't say anything else to the targeted woman. She was too overcome with emotion. Rage, horror, anger, helplessness, and guilt.

"It's no use, Elphie. Don't try and plan anything to get me out of here. It's too late for me," the blonde said softly, as if she had already given up and was ready to die.

Elphaba was furious at Glinda for even talking like that. She clenched her fists in anger.

"Don't you dare say that, Glin!" she snapped at her as she strode over to the blonde, picked her up and held her in her embrace when she nearly fell back down to the floor, "It's not too late for you. We'll leave right now, in fact."

"What?" cried Glinda, as she held onto Elphaba tighter and sobbed into her chest.

Elphaba had her broom levitate towards her hand and she grasped it tightly.

"We're getting you out of here," she said in a brisk tone as she headed for the door with Glinda still wrapped around her.

And just as her fingers touched the door handle, it opened. Elphaba jumped back in fright and raised the broom, ready to attack whoever came into the room.

The door swung open wider and revealed Allaska.

**Dun, dun, dun... again. Haha sorry I keep leaving these off as cliffhangers I promise the next chapter won't be a cliffhanger. **

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	6. Plans

Chapter Six:

Allaska stared at Elphaba and Glinda with a shocked expression on her face.

"You're Elphaba," she exclaimed as soon as her mind registered the green skin tone of the woman that was with Glinda.

"What was your first clue?" snapped Elphaba as she kept her broom raised, ready for a fight.

"I promise I don't want to hurt you." Allaska said in defense. She held up her hands as a sign of peace.

"Ha! Sure, you don't," snarled Elphaba as she took one step towards the nurse, "You're just like everyone else in this land! Besides, why should I trust you? You're one of the people who are keeping Glinda locked up in here!"

Allaska bit her lip. That was true. But how was she to convince the Wicked Witch of The West that she actually wanted to help Glinda escape?

"I swear that I want to help. I don't want Glinda to have this lobotomy anymore than you do." Allaska hoped her words would assure the green woman that she was on their side.

"Elphie," Glinda's voice suddenly popped into the scene. She had one hand intertwined with Elphaba's and the other at her side. "You can trust her."

The reassurance from Glinda seemed to be all that it took to get Elphaba on her side. At once the green woman relaxed, but still she did not smile, and looked at Allaska differently. She did not look like she was going to kill her anymore. The broom lowered slowly as Elphaba kept her gaze on Allaska.

"Do you have a plan?" the Witch asked sharply. Her fingers twitched in Glinda's grasp. She was agitated. She didn't plan on getting caught and all she wanted to do was leave. Run away with Glinda and never return.

"Not yet… but I think I can work something out," Allaska was happy to offer her services.

"I think I should just take Glinda and leave," said Elphaba abruptly without giving the nurse a chance to say anything further, "And that's what we intend to do."

"Sir Chuffrey is in the waiting room though, he wants to see her. If you take her now then he'll know something is up," pointed out Allaska. She had seen the blonde's husband just before she had come in here to check on Glinda and had told him that she would take him to see his wife shortly after.

"I don't care about him!" snarled Elphaba as her features twisted and warped into one of anger, "Let him know!"

"Elphie, no we can't do that," rushed Glinda as a look of sheer terror came over her face.

Elphaba looked at Glinda and saw the fear on her face. She pressed a hand to Glinda's cheek and shushed her, "Alright, my sweet. We won't do that." Elphaba could tell that Glinda was scared about Chuffrey finding out, about him coming after her.

"Thank you, Elphie," said the blonde softly as she instinctively curled into the green woman as she stood besides her.

It was then that Allaska realized who actually controlled this relationship. At first she had thought it was Elphaba, judging by her determination and fierceness but now Allaska had come to realize that it was actually Glinda. Even though she was fragile now, in a horrid state mental-wise, Elphaba still bowed to her every whim. It was like the green woman couldn't say no to her, couldn't do anything without her approval.

"What's your plan then?" asked Elphaba briskly as she looked back at Allaska.

"Well," Allaska thought hard for a moment. There were so many options to choose from. Things they had to be careful about. People they had to trick.

"Well, you are a witch, aren't you?" started off Allaska with a smile.

* * *

After only a few minutes later they already had their plan all planned out. And with that in mind, Elphaba left Glinda's cell in order to rehearse what they were going to do. Allaska went to go get Sir Chuffrey, beaming from ear to ear because she was so proud of her plan.

Glinda looked up when her door was opened and Chuffrey came in, looking as stern as ever. The evidence of Elphaba being there was long gone. No broom, no dress, no hat, no person.

It was just Glinda and her bed.

The door closed shut behind him, making a loud click as the lock was activated. Allaska was to do as she was instructed and leave him alone with her, an act; which she rather would not have done but she did anyways.

"I suppose that they have told you," he started off as he started to pace around the little room, "that you are going to have a surgery performed in five days. I wanted you to know that I am in full support of this action and that you should be too." He paused and looked at her. The blonde wasn't looking at him or even in his direction. She was focused on her nails, the vain creature.

The vein in his neck that always bulged when he became angry was suddenly prominent in his features.

"You shouldn't be worried, not in the least bit."

That was a lie and Glinda had to keep tight control of the muscles in her face to keep herself from showing him that she knew that was a lie.

"This surgery, it will wipe out all of this pain that you are having, all of this suffering. It will wipe out every memory you have of _her_ so you won't feel that agony anymore," said Chuffrey as he knelt next to her and forced her chin upwards so that she would look at him.

"You won't ever think _her_ name again after this is done and over with. You won't dream of _her,_ you won't speak of _her,_ you will forget all about Elphaba," he said fiercely. His eyes gleamed with determination and it frightened her. Glinda hoped with all of her heart that this plan worked because if not…

"I will never forget about her," said Glinda defiantly. She knew what she was doing. She would not let him think that he had won.

His face dropped. His grip on her chin tightened so much that he was leaving marks on her skin.

"You will, you will whether you want to or not," he said through his teeth. "I will not loose you to that green freak."

"Why are you so worried?" asked Glinda suddenly as she glared at him with a look so cold it could have turned him to ice, "She's dead, isn't she?" Her tone was just as icily as her features.

"You remember that," said Chuffrey sternly as he tightened his fingers so hard on her chin that he was slicing skin open, "You remember that she's dead! I'm the only one left for you."

To this, Glinda wanted to scream in his face that Elphaba was alive and that she would never choose him over her but she kept her mouth shut. If this plan was going to work she needed to comply with Chuffrey not defy his every word.

"You're right," Glinda looked at him lovingly, batting her eyelashes like a schoolgirl, "You're absolutely right. She is dead… and all I have is you now."

Her whole body wanted to throw up at that statement but she kept it down.

Chuffrey's eyes glinted with happiness, "Yes, yes, I'm yours forever until the day we both die."

Oh how Glinda wished that day, at least for him, would come sooner.

"I ... I …I love you," she sighed as she put her hands on his chest and leaned against him. Those words when said to him made her being sick. She didn't love him but she had to keep up the act, or at least try to.

His hand caressed her face and the blonde shuddered inwardly at the form of contact.

"I promise this surgery will work, and then we will be together forever. Just you and me," Chuffrey was pleased. It seemed as if finally this treatment was working. Now he just had to eliminate Elphaba from Glinda's mind and everything would go back to normal.

He leaned in close to her face and kissed her as an act of sheer happiness and gratitude. He kept his lips on hers for what seemed like forever and when he pulled away he found tears in her eyes. He assumed that they were tears of happiness. He assumed wrong but Glinda went with it anyways.

"Oh, my darling, don't cry. I'm happy too… soon this will all be over… soon she will be over for both of us and we can start again," he said as he wiped her tears.

"I don't want to remember anymore," said Glinda tearfully as she played up the act by crying a bit harder.

"You won't. I promise," swore Chuffrey, "I will be right by your side the entire time."

That made Glinda smile but for a different reason than Chuffrey was thinking.

"Thank you," said the blonde as she wiped her own tears.

Chuffrey straightened up and smiled down at her, "I love you… you know that right? All of this," he gestured to the cell, "I did for you. I did for your own good."

"I know," those words didn't want to come out of Glinda's mouth but they did anyways with a bitterness ringing in the aftermath of them.

When he left she cried into her pillow and prayed to whoever was out there to help make this plan work. She didn't even want to think of her life if it didn't…

**So I'm a terrible person and I have left this un-updated for months and I am so sorry! I just couldn't get any inspiration but now I have so here's the latest chapter!**

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	7. It's Time

Chapter Seven:

When Glinda woke up five days later, her stomach was in knots.

Today was the day.

She was agitated and nervous to say the least. Her hands couldn't stop shaking as she received and ate her breakfast. The food in her mouth had no taste and she barely felt herself swallow with each bite.

Once breakfast was put away and over with, it was now time to wait. Wait until Allaska came to take her to the operating room. Her head was spinning and turning with the endless bad outcomes. The most prominent being: what if this plan did not work?

A shudder passed through her body as she pondered on that briefly.

The bed creaked and moaned as she sat on it hour after hour. She had no clock in her room so she didn't know what time it was. She guessed noon because of the sun coming in her room.

The room was becoming still and silent and it was slowly driving Glinda to madness. She just wanted this to be done and over with.

She didn't want to sit anymore. She couldn't wait anymore. Her nails were digging into the skin of her arms, creating curved marks of red in her white skin.

One hand detached itself from her arm and made its way to her hair. She wound pieces of her golden locks around her fingers until they turned blue over and over again.

This was maddening. Hell, really.

Over the years Glinda's patience had worn away to almost nothing. She was no longer at peace with waiting. She was too old to wait for anything anyways.

Another hour give or take had come and gone. Her arms were now covered with red marks from her piercing fingernails. Her hair that she had woven around her fingers was now slightly curled and was staying that way.

She tried to pass the time by reflecting… but Glinda realized that she didn't have many happy or good memories to reflect on.

Her childhood had been good. Being pampered and spoiled rotten by Momsie and Popsicle though hadn't done much for her attitude towards life. She had been such a vain silly thing, obsessed with the beautiful life that she thought she was going to just get handed to her.

Shiz had been one of the better things that had happened in her life even if she was only there for a few months. No, it hadn't been Shiz. It had been Elphaba.

Elphaba was the one person that Glinda could be completely herself with. She didn't have to fake it or act like a dumb socialite to her. Elphaba could see right through those lies. She knew who Glinda really was. Their friendship if one called it that was one of the best things that had happened to Glinda.

Chuffrey was one of the worst. From the start, Glinda should have seen that her fate was doomed. Arranged marriages never or very rarely turned out well.

If Glinda had been going through her marriage alone instead of with Elphaba by her side the blonde couldn't and didn't want to imagine how her life might have turned out.

Her husband had really puzzled her at times. He could act nice and understanding in one moment and then force himself upon her and hit her the next. Their honeymoon was not exactly pleasant, but then again when had the rest of their marriage been pleasant?

It was a miserable relationship from the start. Chuffrey had only wanted her so that she could bear heirs for him and once that was clear to him that it was not going to work out, he ignored her. There was a happier time though in the midst of all the miscarriages and beatings. Glinda remembered how happy she was when she found Elphaba in that Corn Exchange. The time that she spent there with Elphaba was wonderful. But the Corn Exchange had a lot of bad memories too. The memories though were mostly of Fiyero and the effects of what she had done to him. She remembered Elphaba's face, that hurt and pained look on her face that had appeared when she found out that Glinda had killed Fiyero. She had been selfish and there wasn't a day that went by that Glinda did not regret killing him. Sometimes she'd like to imagine that things would have been different if she hadn't killed him.

Maybe she could have gotten away from Chuffrey sooner. Maybe she could have saved herself this torture of being locked up for years upon years.

Either way she couldn't change the past now. There was too much history, too much to move past for anything to be done about it.

She was stuck with her future and for this moment her future was here at the Southstairs Asylum. At least…for now.

The sound of the door unlocking jolted her from her memories. Her frantic blue eyes looked up to see the familiar face of Allaska.

"It's time," said the nurse softly as she waited at the door.

Glinda's heart pounded in her chest with fear as she slowly rose up from the bed and walked to the door. Once in the hallway, Allaska gripped the blonde's hand tightly something Glinda was ever so grateful for. It gave her a surge of confidence and of hope.

Their steps resonated on the tile floor of the asylum click by click. Everyone around them knew what was going to happen to her. She was heading to that room with that door in which the people who go in never come out quite the same.

For the first time since she had been here, Glinda found this particular hallway to be going on forever. It seemed like with each step the door grew two steps farther away from her.

Finally they reached the door. Glinda glanced at Allaska with frightened eyes.

"Don't be afraid," said Allaska quietly as she let her hand fall from Glinda's grasp as she reached for the door handle.

The door opened and Glinda was rushed inside with Allaska closing the door on her. Inside the room, it was madness. One moment she being pulled towards the operating table and the next she was being strapped down. It was all a blur in her mind. Glinda was only focused on one thing and that was their plan of how to get her out of here.

So far the plan was working according to what they had decided on but Glinda was still nervous. It wasn't over yet… and she wouldn't relax until it was.

In her thinking she had forgotten that she was strapped down to the table and her body suddenly fought against its bonds only to be no use.

She panicked for but a moment and then tried to relax the best she could. She closed her eyes as the doctors surrounding muttered things as they got their materials ready. Her heart was still beating incredibly fast. Her pulse was above normal. She could feel herself getting hysterical.

But she had to stay calm. She had to pretend like this was the course of action that she wanted to take in her life. Glinda had told Chuffrey that she had wanted this. The blonde knew that he was somewhere in another room behind a blackened out screen watching this.

Good. She was glad. She wanted him to watch this.

Her mouth went dry as she heard one of the doctors pronounce that they were ready to begin. Her heart accelerated even though she was trying not to be scared. Her eyes snapped open and she saw the ice pick coming towards her. She struggled furiously now, not even caring. The other doctors had to hold her down to get her to stop fighting. Their voices were muffled in her ears. She was too scared to hear or see anything clearly.

A glint in the light and a sharp pinch was all it took for her world to turn black.

**Don't hate me! I'm writing the next chapter as quickly as I possibly can!**

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	8. Happy Together

Chapter Eight:

The fact that she hadn't opened her eyes was really starting to worry her. It had been what thirty minutes since then and she still hadn't awakened.

"Glinda…" said Elphaba hesitantly once more as she pressed a cool hand to the blonde's forehead, "You're safe now."

"Glin… wake up, you're starting to scare me," said Elphaba a bit louder as she shook the blonde woman by the shoulders.

Suddenly and thankfully, she saw those eyes open wide as Glinda's body stirred slightly.

She blinked a few times before she spoke, taking in the forest scene around her.

"It worked," said Glinda faintly, a wide smile appearing on her face as her eyes locked themselves on her lover's form, "Elphie it worked!"

Instant relief filled her. She was finally far, far away from Chuffrey and that horrible asylum. Her breathing calmed and slowed immediately.

"Yes it did," said Elphaba as she smiled back at Glinda, "You're safe now." She held Glinda in her arms, beyond happy that the blonde was not around Chuffrey anymore.

"I was so scared, Elphie," admitted Glinda softly as her fingers clenched tightly around Elphaba's bony shoulders in remembrance of what just happened to her. After her world had gone black, she had subconsciously panicked and thought that Chuffrey was going to get what he wanted. She didn't think that the spell had worked and that she hadn't been magicked out of the room at the last second.

"I know, I know you were," comforted Elphaba. She rubbed the blonde's back soothingly in soft circles, trying to keep her calm, "I was too. But you're okay now. He won't hurt you ever again."

Glinda lifted her head, hope sparkling in those brilliant blue eyes.

"Promise?" she asked in a child-like voice.

Elphaba hesitated for a moment. She knew it was wrong to make promises that she might not be able to keep but she didn't want to crush Glinda's newfound happiness just yet.

"I promise," she said solemnly.

The blonde's face lit up, her features suddenly brightened at that answer.

"Thank you, Elphie," she gushed with a bright, youthful smile. She then buried her face into Elphaba's shoulder and giggled with pure happiness.

"We actually did it," Glinda exclaimed in an impressed and joyful tone. She couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"We can be together now," stated the blonde with a giddy smile as she pecked Elphaba on the lips tenderly. The green woman stared at her with a smile blooming on her own face. She was glad that Glinda was so happy. She hadn't seen her this happy in years. But Elphaba was also nervous of what was to come. She knew Glinda could switch from one emotion to the next and that struck fear in Elphaba. If they were going to live together as fugitives Elphaba needed Glinda to be stable and self-sufficient, not clingy and emotionally unstable.

"Come on," said Elphaba gently as she placed her hand in Glinda's, "We need to get out of here before anyone finds us." She helped the blonde to her feet and began their walk to the 'safe house.'

Glinda followed Elphaba silently and obediently as they made their way through the glistening forest full of scuttling animals and sunlight. Finally after what seemed like an hour of walking they came to a waterfall hidden amongst the tall, whispering trees. Rocks jutted out of the flowing river like pickets on a fence. Elphaba hopped on them gracefully as she jumped from one rock to another. Glinda followed hesitantly, not sure what she was up to.

Glinda really began to freak out when she saw Elphaba mere inches from the crashing, cascading wall of water.

"Elphie, what are you doing? You'll melt!" shrieked the blonde in warning as she tried her best to quickly get to where Elphaba was without falling in the water.

Elphaba turned, a smirk adorning her green face.

"You worry too much, my sweet," she said in a teasing sort of tone. She turned back to the waterfall, mumbled a spell and both women watched as the waterfall suddenly parted right down the middle revealing a hollow cave of rock.

Glinda was spellbound when she finally arrived at where Elphaba was. She marveled at the scene and didn't even realize that Elphaba had dragged her inside until she heard and felt the waterfall close behind her.

Once her eyes adjusted to the dampness and darkness of the cave, she found herself smiling.

"Is this where you call home now?" she asked as her eyes roamed around. She saw a few blankets spread on the ground, clothes folded in the corner, some spare candle-lit lanterns in various places, The Grimmerie and Elphaba's broomstick, and lastly her crystal ball.

"This has been home for the past ten years," said Elphaba as she sat down on a blanket, exhausted from using so much magic.

"Well thank you for inviting me into your home," said Glinda softly as she sat down next to her. She leaned against Elphaba's shoulder and sighed. Just being here with Elphaba was utterly satisfying. Her presence made the blonde calm and collected.

"What is this place called anyways? I have no idea where we are," spoke up Glinda, interested.

"It's the supposed waterfall that Saint Aelphaba emerged from after hiding from those who pursued her," said Elphaba, "I thought it would be fitting to hide out here."

One arm wrapped itself around Glinda's shoulder lovingly and pulled her closer so that Glinda's body was leaning against her own.

"And it's safe?" asked the blonde timidly. She didn't ask that question because she doubted Elphaba's skills as a witch, she asked it for reassurance for her own piece of mind.

"Safe as anywhere else. I put protective spells up so no one can hear us or see us. But that doesn't stop weary travelers from stopping by once in a while or soldiers passing through," spoke Elphaba as she recounted some close calls from her past.

"What should we do if that happens?" asked Glinda, looking sideways at her lover.

"Stay silent and hidden. There is a piece of rock that I magicked to be a door. If you open it, there's a little cave inside there that no one knows about. Hide there if the need be."

Elphaba got up and demonstrated the trick to Glinda, showing her the door and the hidden room within it. The blonde couldn't deny that she was impressed with all of this. But she also acknowledged the sad fact that Elphaba had been doing this for so long, and all by herself.

"I'm sorry you've had to live here all alone for so many years," Glinda apologized a few hours later after Elphaba had started a fire and they were munching on the remains of some poor fish that had caught from the river.

"It's alright, we're together now, aren't we?" said Elphaba as she kissed Glinda's lips softly.

Glinda smiled, "Yes, we are." She sighed as she pulled away.

"Elphie… do you think you taking me out of Southstairs Asylum is going to cause so much more chaos than we ever realized it would have?"

Elphaba thought about that for a moment. She knew Chuffrey would be enraged at the act. He was probably fuming now.

"It all depends on how Chuffrey handles it. If he does nothing and accepts defeat then no I don't think this will cause any chaos. But… if he decides to admit that he lied about you being dead and spreads rumors about me being alive then I don't know how dangerous this will get."

"I wish we could get out of Oz," said Glinda longingly. Elphaba looked at her for a minute before answering.

"Why? Oz is where we met and Oz is where we will live out the rest of our lives together. Oz is ours and no one, not even Chuffrey should take that away from us," said Elphaba as she kissed the bridge of Glinda's nose affectionately.

"But-"

"No buts, my sweet. Not now. We don't have any other options and you know that." Glinda sighed. Elphaba was always right with her logic and reason.

"You should get some sleep," remarked Elphaba as she tried to keep the fire alive but it was flickering out flame by flame.

"I'm not tired," Glinda said defiantly. She was not going to spend her first night with Elphaba sleeping. She had waited too long for her touch to be kept at bay any longer.

"Yes you are. You're exhausted. I'm exhausted. Now, go to sleep," chided the green woman gently as she finally gave up on the fire and let the darkness consume the cave. The only sounds the women heard now were of the constant rushing water of the waterfall and river and of each other.

Glinda pouted and in the darkness her hands found Elphaba.

"Elphie…" her whisper echoed in the cave as she started to try and find the buttons on Elphaba's dress.

She saw nothing but darkness, which aggravated her to no end. She wanted to see Elphaba's body and she wanted Elphaba to see hers.

"Not tonight my sweet," came Elphaba's answer in a short, clipped voice.

Glinda pursed her lips together and she was about to retort something when Elphaba suddenly spoke.

"This life takes so much more strength than you realize, Glin. Sleep, you need your rest."

Those words rebounded themselves in her head. She knew Elphaba was right and she couldn't help but feel guilty as she heard the tired, weary and knowing tone between the lines.

She gave in, despite her own wants and needs.

"Alright," she said softly as she lowered her back to the ground, "Goodnight Elphie."

"Goodnight Glin," was the last thing she heard before she fell fast asleep.

**So school starts Tuesday and I don't know how hectic my life will be from that point on so there may or may not be a lapse in updating until I get settled with my schedule and whatnot. My weekends are kind of filled with SAT prep and volunteering and I have no idea how much homework my teachers are going to load on me, so be prepared for anything.**

**In other news, I really like this chapter. Gelphie fluff with a bit of angst.**

**Bubble**


	9. Common Ground

Chapter Nine:

"Where in the Unnamed God's hell is she?" the voice roared and pierced through the silent room of Southstairs Asylum.

The voice belonged to none other than Sir William Chuffrey.

"I don't know sir…"

"I'm sure she didn't go far sir…"

"I think she got magicked out of here…"

A chorus of doctors and nurses alike answered him in stammering uncertain replies. They all ran around the room like chickens with their heads cut off trying to figure out where in the world Lady Chuffrey disappeared to. It was as if she had vanished out of thin air. One moment she was injected with a needle and the next she was gone. It was beyond puzzling to everyone in the staff except Allaska. The primary nurse for the missing blonde woman couldn't help but smugly smile as she went along with everyone else and pretended to look for Lady Glinda. She was the only one who knew exactly where she was and Allaska couldn't have been happier for her. Finally after years and years of suffering, Glinda had been reunited with Elphaba. The nurse couldn't help but feel pride within herself for causing such a good thing to happen.

But now she was left to deal with the aftermath of that good event, which was not as joyful or pride swelling.

To say that Sir Chuffrey was livid was an understatement. He was nearly bursting at the seams; his veins were popping out of his skin, his face contorted with anger. Allaska was glad of his pain, his misery in losing Glinda. She had never liked him, even in his younger years.

"I want her brought back immediately," he howled at some poor new nurse who took out of the room crying.

The older doctors tried to calm him down.

"Now Sir Chuffrey, I'm sure this was just some freak accident… Lady Glinda will soon be returned and the operation will go as scheduled…"

"Like hell she will be," he snarled at them, "I know exactly who is responsible for this…" he left without another word, leaving the asylum in deep distress for their missing patient.

* * *

Within a couple of days the two women had established a routine, which they adhered to almost religiously in fear of the unknown.

Everyday, Elphaba got up earlier than the blonde, made breakfast (which meant either magicking a fish to come out of the waters below or scouring the forest for berries that weren't poisonous), and then usually began her reading of The Grimmerie. After making sure the protective spells were still in place, she was more at ease and less cross. By the time Glinda woke up sometimes she could get the green woman to smile but that was on a good day. Elphaba, at least to Glinda, seemed to be on constant edge, always seeing daggers and danger around every corner, within every shadow. She flinched whenever something made a noise or something sounded out of the ordinary to her keen senses.

Glinda figured that if she lived this fugitive life as long as Elphie had that she would soon start seeing danger in everything too.

Then after breakfast came the unbearably long hours until lunch where they basically did nothing. Well, Glinda did nothing. Elphaba sat and read for hours upon hours. The blonde thought it was ridiculous. She didn't see the need for Elphaba to be pouring all of her energy into reading that stupid spell book.

"I don't think that any more spells are going to appear if you keep reading that thing, Elphie," she had remarked one morning to her companion. Her comment did not sit too well with Elphaba who had barked some terribly mean thing back at her and sulked in her silence and her reading for the rest of the day.

Evenings were even more stressful than the mornings. Then again Elphaba wasn't a big fan of the darkness. Every sound be it made by Glinda or herself was like an alarm to the green woman. She hadn't been this impossible to live with the first day. It was like she was retreating into the secretive, careful fugitive that she had been for the last ten or something odd years.

They had to be especially careful about when and if kisses or touches could be exchanged. Make too much noise and Elphaba would get paranoid that the sound charms might have worn off. Rip off the other's clothing too hard and she snapped her head up and listened for any sound of intruders or people who were just passing through, just to make sure.

Outings from the cave were strictly forbidden, for Glinda at least.

"You don't know your way around here," said Elphaba simply as an answer one night when Glinda asked if she could go out, "It's for your own good, my sweet. I couldn't bear the thought of you getting lost or worse killed because you trespassed on the wrong path of some crazy tribe."

Glinda didn't think it fair but she understood Elphaba's reasons however much she disliked them.

Everything Elphaba did was for her own good. Glinda found herself having to remind herself of that from time to time.

She chose this life; she chose to be with Elphaba.

"Elphie?" she asked in the middle of the agonizing silence one night, "What's Oz like now?" Glinda hadn't been able to keep up to date with the happenings around Oz. No one in the asylum was. They were purposely isolated from the outside world and for good reason too.

The glasses that Elphaba had to wear now in her older age fell from the crook of her nose. She looked up from the page she had been reading and repositioned the glasses back on her face.

"Oz hasn't been the same since when we were young," said Elphaba slowly trying to figure out the best way to describe what little of the new Oz she had encountered.

"I know that the Wizard's rule has only been strengthened by his allegiance with Morrible. The Gale Force is a nightmare though. They are all around Oz, secretly rounding up Ozians and Animals alike who are suspected of treason. I have a confidant who says that they execute them in Southstairs whether they have the death penalty over their head or not. Oz is not safe anymore…"

Elphaba looked at Glinda as if she expected a tantrum, a plea for her to be brought back to the asylum immediately where she could live out the rest of her life in peace and as far away from the monsters of the world as possible. The blonde surprised her by letting this come out of her mouth.

"When was it ever safe?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Elphaba's lips and she found herself smirking at Glinda's comment.

"I missed you," she said looking back down at her book.

"I missed you too, Elphie," replied Glinda as she suddenly got up from her spot on the blanket and sat herself down next to Elphaba. She carefully leaned her body up against Elphaba's and smiled to herself when she did not get rejected for the action.

"So I was thinking," she started off the conversation with a bright smile.

"Lurline, behold," remarked Elphaba sarcastically without taking her eyes off of her page.

Glinda frowned but was delighted that Elphaba was joking around. She hadn't joked in what seemed like weeks. She hadn't smiled in what seemed like years.

"When we get out of here, I think we should get a little cottage, something quiet, something modestly-sized with a bit of crown molding and a nice little yard with a garden of roses. And for our bedroom we could paint half of it green and the other half pink."

The book was shut.

"This is what you think about?" asked Elphaba clearly amused, her voice shaking with laughter.

Glinda smiled with her lips. She had only said it to get such a reaction out of Elphaba. She hadn't really meant it… but now that she saw Elphaba's enthusiasm her hope in the project grew.

"Well yes! What else do you expect me to think about when you keep me locked up in this drafty old cave for days upon days?"

"Anything but that," said Elphaba with a wave of her hands.

"Well I thought it was pretty creative if you asked me," said the blonde with a teasing pout.

"You have such a gift for optimism," said Elphaba with a smile. The blonde couldn't help but smile back. She suddenly inclined her head after a few moments and without any warning kissed Elphaba gently.

Thankfully Elphaba decided to at least engage in this kiss, unlike the numerous others since Glinda had escaped Southstairs Asylum, where the green woman would merely do nothing.

One hand cupped itself around the gentle curve of Elphaba's face as the other rested on her bony hip.

Elphaba's hands were entangled in those blonde tresses and mangled around her neck. Glinda was ever so glad that this simple kiss deepened into a fierce one.

It lasted for what seemed like forever, with each pair of lips battling it out for control, with each pair of hands caressing and grabbing at the other's body.

It felt unbelievably satisfying when it was over thought. Like a dream come true.

"We should have a safe word," said Elphaba as the night went on and they both were still up even though the darkness was flooding the sky and their fire was almost burnt out, "just in case one of us gets hurt or something."

"We wouldn't need a safe word if we stuck together and you didn't sneak off by yourself," Glinda took the opportunity to reprimand Elphaba for her various, mysterious outings.

"No, it's too dangerous," snapped Elphaba, "You're still much too recognizable. People barely knew what I looked like so I can get away with it if I shroud myself in dark cloaks."

"Then change me so that I don't look like myself, so we can be together at all times," Glinda begged, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She couldn't bear the thought of losing Elphaba now, not after what they had been through, "You can't leave me alone… not anymore."

"I'm working on it, my sweet. I almost have everything ready," said Elphaba and it was true. She had been stealing things here and there that would help disguise Glinda so when the time came for them to leave, she would no longer look like herself.

"But for now you need to wait," Elphaba kissed the top of that golden head gently and looked back at those blue eyes, "Now help me come up with a wretched safe word. It has to be something that only we know about, something that no one is familiar with..."

"Gelphie," said Glinda automatically without even thinking, "Gelphie should be our safe word."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow, "Gelphie? Now where in Oz did you-"

"It's our names," defended the blonde quickly, "put together."

Elphaba remained silent for a moment.

"Gelphie… I like it. No one will ever guess what or whom it is."

Glinda beamed proud of herself that she could be helpful.

"Well, I'm glad you're pleased," said the blonde with a bright smile as she snuggled up closer to Elphaba.

"I love being able to sit here next to you," whispered Glinda in a sigh, "We haven't done this in years."

She felt herself being pulled closer to Elphaba's body by Elphaba's arm and she smiled.

"I know," said the green woman softly, "I love it too."

They both spent the rest of the night watching the flames in their fire flicker out one by one.

**Awwww... **

**So I planned out a lot of this story today in AB so I'm going to try and write as much as I have planned out and then update maybe weekly from now on. I'm going to try and finish this story more than anything else right now because this is what I have inspiration for.**

**Wish me luck because we all know I'm terrible at keeping promises, especially when it comes to updating or continuing to write one story at a time.**

**Bubble**


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